PUEBLA: HISTORICITY AND THEOLOGICAL OPTIONS

Abstract

The Puebla Conference was held as the epicenter of a historical and ecclesial process marked by hermeneutic struggles. The significance of the Medellin Conference, but before, the significance of Vatican II itself was at the center of this dispute. Two distinct theological models were confronted in this interpretation: the classical matrix and the modern matrix. Notwithstanding the ecclesiastical legitimacy of the first model, the latter triumphed as one capable of interpreting the historical moment and responding to its challenges. The concepts of historical consciousness and historicity provide the framework upon which this theology rests, which in Latin America was formulated under the nomenclature “liberation theology”.